Playing God
by NotQuiteThere
Summary: The lab techs created all sorts of warriors at Manticore but did they go to far in creating his one?
1. On the Edge

Disclamier: Dark Angel and all it's characters belong to James Cameron but don't deserve to belong to Fox who in their infinite blindness canceled the show. Long live fan fiction.

I watched the scene from the roof top. I wasn't suppose to be out there, I had just become so bored, bored with the small room and the television. They had just posted the face of another transgenic and I was sick of it, sick of the terror and persecution. I grabbed my thin black cloak and wrapped myself in it as I hurried up to the roof. I normally only ever ventured out at night, it was safer then. Less people. I heard the shouts from the streets and looked over the edge careful not to rest my weight on the edge, it was so fragile even that could topple it. I saw him then, they were stringing him up by his ankles. I could tell he was a transgenic just because he was still breathing, anyone else suffering that amount of abuse would have already been dead. The crowd about him was growing and screaming at him, no one was trying to help. I looked on sickened, and then suddenly I snapped. I couldn't take it anymore. The persecution, the isolation, the fear. I screamed and tossed the cloak back as I dived off the building. 

Manticore had made me to strike fear into humans and I used it. My wings unfurled as I soared towards the scene. I tossed a vial of liquid on my head causing a flash of light about my head. The pale blue dress I wore under my cloak clung to me and I pulled the knife out of one of the hidden folds. The crowd below me screamed as they saw me. Calling out to their God and swept down knife drawn. I was just like another drill at Manticore. Slice the rope and almost simultaneously grab the transgenic's ankles. And we were off, my wings pumping desperately as I fought gravity to pull the weight of the transgenic up with me. The crowd below was screaming but there were no shots. The lab techs at Manticore had been right when they said that humans would be reluctant to shoot me, in the drills even the guards had hesitated. The transgenic was heavy and I only just managed to get out of sight of the mob before I was forced to land of a roof out of sheer exhaustion. I looked over the transgenic, he was handsome under the cuts and bruises, but then all of the X series were. I could hear the crowd down below, they had followed and it was only a matter of time before one of them called in the cops who would come with helicopters, our only chance was to keep moving and hope to find a place to hide. The best idea might be to head back to my apartment, they would expect that and there was some safety offered by the room that I had been so bored in earlier. I lifted the transgenic under the arms and unfurled my wings again, keeping close to the roofs I flew back. It was hard, Manticore had tried to train my to carry another person for distances, but I simply hadn't had the bone density to do so, hardly surprising as they had bred me that way. Just as we passed over an alley I felt my wings give out I fought the exhaustion but here was no way I could make it the other roof we had already fallen down to far for me to fly us back up. We descended into the alley, there were no shouts but the alley lead into the street where the scene had happened. My apartment was a few building down but there was no way we could make it over there with out someone stopping us. I laid him down under the cover of an old sheet of corrugated iron and wrapped myself back in my cloak before I looked out into the street to see if anyone had noticed us. The roar of the motorcycles caught my attention as I saw two cycles taking the corners at high speed before slicing to a stop at the sight of the burning X. They dismounted as looked about, they seemed to be the same age as the one I had just rescues. The were also both beautiful, the young woman had long dark hair and her companion short sandy hair and strong body complimented her dark looks. They were to alert to what was going on, too concerned with what had just happened to be normal. I decided to take a chance and picked up a small rock. The guy was just across the street but my muscles had almost no strength at all. I threw the rock. I watched it as it arch through the air and the land just by his feet. He looked about and then towards me. This was it the moment of truth, there was no way that I was going to be able to escape if he wasn't what I though he was. Soon the mob would find us though and we would both be killed. I called out. 

"Hey there handsome, how's it going." I smiled invitingly out from under my hood, it hardly looked innocent, but no passer-by would notice it. At the same time I moved my hands, if he was just handsome human he wouldn't think much of it, but if he were Manticore he would recognize the signal for extraction needed, wounded. 

He smiled back in response "Getting better all the time." I exhaled the breath I hadn't realized I was holding as his hands signaled back, extraction team ready. He looked over his shoulder and caught the eye of the girl he had driven up with. Pushing her cycle over casually she scanned the area for any hostile presence. I led them both back into the alley were the transgen was concealed. 

"It's Biggs. We have to get him back stat. He's unconscious and still bleeding, Max." 

"I'll take him, you take the other. Toss me your cloak." Max motioned at me and I rapidly shook my head. I would attack even more attention than a bleeding X series without my cloak. Max looked annoyed but quickly shifted her attention to the other transgen. "Alec I need your sweater."

There was no time to waste on making Biggs comfortable. Alec grabbed off his sweater and tossed it on him pulling up the hood to hide his face. He hadn't come round yet and he was bleeding from a number of cuts. They tossed him on the motorcycle behind Max locking his hands about her waist with a pair of plastic tie cuffs. I jumped on the back of the other bike and we were off. Speeding through the streets and into a section called Terminal City. They sped about the corner and then turned into a wall that suddenly slid up and to the side to reveal an opening. And then were in. The bikes came to a halt and a there were suddenly bodies all about us cutting the cuffs of the injured transgen and they rushed him in to one of the buildings. I looked at the faces about me and relaxed; while some looked human a number did not, I was safe. I quickly followed the Max and Alec into the building after Biggs. He was on a table as transgenic with a large monocle was trying to stop the bleeding, another X-5 was standing next to him transfusing her blood into him. Alec hurried down to where Max was already standing.

"How is he?"

"Not good, Ray here thinks there might be internal bleeding, its gonna be touch and go. We can't take him to a hospital and Sam's the only doctor I trust but he had to leave town."

"Does Ray know what he's doing." Alec's voice was harsh as he watched his friend lying there motionless. 

"Yes I know what I'm doing, I was trained to be the medical officer in my squad, but these are hardly ideal conditions." Ray started to sanitize the largest cut on Biggs' side. "Bastards cut up him up bad. I can sew him back together, but its still going to be touch and go."

"Hey who are you?" A desert transgen appeared in the doorway and I walked back out to the center of the courtyard.

"XH-021." I turned as I heard two people approaching from behind. Alec and Max walked out obviously having been chased out by Ray. 

"How did you get him out of that mob?" Max looked my over, though by cloak concealed my shape effectively, I had yet to push the hood down. "There was not way you could just walk into a lynching, cut him down and walk off with him."

"I didn't walk in, I flew." At their expressions I laughed and tossed back my hood and cloak letting my wings unfurl as I pushed off the ground. It felt so wonderful to be able to reveal who I was, not having to hide away but finally being with other people who understood what I was going through and the fear that people held for me. I was free. My gold hair fell down my back in ringlets as the huge white feathered wings slowly beat just keeping me slightly aloft. The others transgenics just stared at me.

"They created a damn angel." Alec shouted.


	2. Sanctuary

Chapter Two

We were sitting in what seemed to be the main room of the compound, Biggs was still in recovery with a parade of X-5 in and out transfusing their blood into him. He had come round once and muttered slightly and then passed out again. I had been introduced to a number of the other transgenics and been given food and a hot drink to build my strength back up. 

"So what was your purpose at Manticore?" Alec and Max looked over at me there was a small gathering of transgenic working in the area, mainly repairing old electronics. 

"I was trained for propaganda, reconnaissance and assassination." 

"What do you mean by propaganda?" Max quizzed 

"I was shown off as what Manticore could produce, it was also theorized that I could be used to control religious fanatics. Think about it, Manticore finds some nut job close to a person they want information on or taken out, I show up tell them it's God's, Allah's, whoever's will that they do this. They either succeed or they get caught and their reasoning is that an angel told them to do it. Who would believe them."

"So how do you fly, with your wing span, its only about six feet, that isn't enough to lift a person, who's what 5'5?" The desert transgenic who had been introduced as Mole looked me over critically.

"It wouldn't be enough to lift a normal human, which none of us are, they spliced my genes with birds not only to create the wings but also to make my bones hollow, bird bones. It made me light enough to fly."

"Manticore at work." Max muttered "So what's the down side?"

"Can't fight, not physically, I can shoot a gun but my bones break too easily for hand to hand combat. My weaponry has to be the lightest possible for me to carry it any distance."

"But you lifted Biggs out." Alec said

"I was running on adrenaline when I managed to lift Biggs out; also the buildings created a wind tunnel so I was able to use the updrafts to lift us out. Even so when I tried to fly back my wings gave out, which is why we ended up in the alley." 

"Hair glows?" Joshua questioned.

"Manticore technology, it's not permanent, too showy and hard to hide. My hair was made to react to a phosphate. I pour the chemical on my hair and it causes a halo like glow for about three hours. Basically I was made to show off how advance the Manticore project really was, They had not only created humans, they had created an angel as well. Playing God."

"Hey guys, we got coverage." A transgenic on one of the landings called down. The television which had been running quietly had it's volume boosted. 

"And covering the transgenic threat, we have a new development. Concerned citizens managed to capture and detain a transgenic attempting to escape capture." There were loud protest from everyone but quickly hushed so we could hear the rest of the broadcast. "What is described as an angel swept down and cut the rope holding the transgenic and carried him off, causing mass hysteria in the gathered crowd. More than ever we must have answers as to what was created at the Manticore labs." 

"Biased bastards." Max cursed "Detaining him, they would have killed Biggs if they had another minute."

"Not much we can do about that until Eyes Only is back on the air." Alec stated

"Hey guys Biggs just woke up, Looks like he's gonna make it." Ray announced. It was met by a chorus of cheers. They may be under attack but they were going to fight this to the end. 

"Right well. Best find you a place to crash. What's your name, by the way?" Max looked over at me. 

"XH-021."

"Won't do."

"I doesn't suit her right Max." Alec smiled mockingly. "Max likes naming people." 

"I so should of named you Dick." Alec just smiled in response. "So, not Angel, doesn't really work. What about Celeste?"

"Celeste?"

"Short for Celestial. Whatta ya think."

"I can live with that." I smiled I had found a place that I could call home, a place where I was accepted for who I was and what I could do.

"Celeste, welcome to Terminal City."


End file.
